Which drive for best burn quality (DVD-R media)?

[adam.mt]

Right, I'm about to change my PC and thus need recommendations of a reader/writer combo. I would appreciate any help, as it's getting difficult to choose.

At moment have AOpen 1648/AAP DVD-ROM, NEC 4571A DVD-Writer and original Plextor Premium CD-Writer. These were best of breed at purchase point, however been out of the optical drive route for a while now so what should I go for in new PC?

* Can be either IDE or SATA, whichever best.
* Either DVD-ROM + DVD-Writer or if latter has as good read quality then two of them
* Assume to be region-free under Vista will need AnyDVD (or similar) rather than 3rd-party firmware
* Writing DVD-R, DVD+DL, and CD-R media (Taiyo Yugen or MCC mostly).

Priorities (in order):
READER Tolerant of errors, fast
WRITER Write quality, then long way behind features and speed

Initially research has shown:
* Samsung S183 (or 182D) looked ideal but appear to be poor(-ish) at writing to DVD-R media.

* LiteOn LH-20A1H (IDE) or 20A1P (SATA) also looked good but then found poor(-ish) at dual-layer writing.

* Pioneer 112 - ?

* How are NEC/Optiarc now?

* BenQ have given up now haven't they?

[SkaarjMaster]

The February poll seems to show people like the Pioneers! (38% right now)

[Scour]

* Samsung S183 (or 182D) looked ideal but appear to be poor(-ish) at writing to DVD-R media.

* LiteOn LH-20A1H (IDE) or 20A1P (SATA) also looked good but then found poor(-ish) at dual-layer writing.

* Pioneer 112 - ?

* How are NEC/Optiarc now?

* BenQ have given up now haven't they?

-Samsung isn´t real good

-Liteon shows much fluences in building-quality

-Pioneer 112 looks ok, 111 is still known as one of the best drives

-Yes, and they wasn´t that good with DL-media, except Verbatim

[adam.mt]

Thanks.

Currently tending towards:
Pioneer 112 for writer, LiteOn LH-20A1H as reader/occasional writer.

[Grain]

Thanks.

Currently tending towards:
Pioneer 112 for writer, LiteOn LH-20A1H as reader/occasional writer.

I have both, the Pioneer is an excellent reader(like the 111), especially on scuffed/scratched media (slows down a lot though). The Liteon 20A1H is unfortunately not that good a reader IMO, it's failed on a couple stamped DVD's already, one of which was brand new. When it works though, it's quite fast. If you get both, you'll have a good setup, Liteon for fast reading on most media, the Pioneer will read the rest. Both do an excellent job burning Verbatims 2.4X +R DL (MKM-001-00)media at 4X (FWIW the Pioneer 112D did the best burn/scan on a DL I've done yet), the Liteon does a good job also on Philips branded CMC Mag 8X +R DL media(@ 4X) [don't remember the CMC mid off by heart, at work right now]. Haven't tried the 112D with the Philips media yet.
I hope to post some scans here as soon as I get them up at ImgBurn.

[adam.mt]

Thanks Grain. Encouraging.

After the first 2 lines of your reply I thought 'better to get 2 Pioneers then' but you're quite right, one of each provides more flexibility.

The main reason I'm considering 2 writers is because there dont seem to be any really impressive ROM drives out there and the price difference is now so small.

What's CD write quality like on the Pioneer?

[Scour]

The Liteon 20A1H is unfortunately not that good a reader IMO, it's failed on a couple stamped DVD's already, one of which was brand new.

A friend telled me the same from his LH-18A1H

But u r right, the combination of both drives should be an excellent choice

[Grain]

To be honest I haven't burned a single CD in either drive, so I won't make any comments to that, other than with good media I would expect good results.

[2Dogs]

Why DVD-R?

I believe the compatibility issues are overstated, especially now that so many burners can set the booktype to DVD-ROM.

For some reason, most burners seem to give better results writing to +R media.

Based on my own tests with mainly +R media, my Pioneer 111D seems to be the best of my bunch - but every burner will have it's strengths. I've yet to find one that can give better results to RICOHJPN R03 media than my Samsung 182M. For most other discs, the Pioneer seems best.

The Pioneer is also a pretty good DVD ripper, matching or even bettering my BenQ's.

I haven't moved on to SATA stuff yet, but can't help agreeing with other posters that the lack of IDE support on some Intel motherboards is a bit premature. If your new pc doesn't have an IDE controller, you might prefer to use a SATA optical drive rather than an IDE drive plus a controller card - but that will limit the range of available burners, and SATA burner prices are generally higher. As far as I know, there's no performance difference between SATA and IDE optical drives.

[Scour]

Maybe it´s because the age of PIF-counters

Yes, perhaps some -R shows not so nice scans like +R, but did anyone notice the difference when they play the DVD?

[2Dogs]

Yes, perhaps some -R shows not so nice scans like +R, but did anyone notice the difference when they play the DVD?

I certainly agree with you - I'd much rather watch a good movie than CD-DVD Speed!

However, my point is that choosing the right media might make the difference between a playable and unplayable disc. For example, a friend of mine backs up video onto Verbatim DVD-R, and has an NEC 3550. The resulting backup "stutters" towards the end, and the quality scans show a high number of errors. Using the same writer with Verbatim DVD+R discs gives a much better scan, and a disc that plays with no problems.

So I suppose my answer to your question is "yes"!

[Scour]

NEC 3550 isn´t a good writer

[2Dogs]

NEC 3550 isn´t a good writer

Uh oh! I didn't want to make that judgement based on write quality scans from discs written to a single media type! How can I break this bad news to my friend, who uses it a lot? I don't wish to pee on his bonfire, in a manner of speaking.

[adam.mt]

Thanks all.

I guess I've just become used to DVD-R. Initially it was chosen, even though I had the first dual format drive at the time (Sony 500), because of standalone player compatibility considerations. Since then I've just stuck with it, even though the writer's changed a few times, because I've never had any problems. The age old adage 'if it aint broke dont fix it'.

I wouldn't be surprised if I was to go to the bother of tests that DVD+R proves equally as compatible (with booktype setting).

[Scour]

NEC 3550 isn´t a good writer

Uh oh! I didn't want to make that judgement based on write quality scans from discs written to a single media type! How can I break this bad news to my friend, who uses it a lot? I don't wish to pee on his bonfire, in a manner of speaking.

U know, the truth often hurts


@adam.mt

My players play +R and -R without probs, but in the past I used Players that don´t like +R-formats, and I have some friends with old players, they never had probs with DVD-R

[Mungos]

my pioneer dvr-111 isnt so good reader and dont have good error corection
cant read some defective discs while some older lite-on dvd-rom read them regularly

on other hand dvr-111 is one of the best writer!

[Scour]

my pioneer dvr-111 isnt so good reader and dont have good error corection

Cd or DVD?

[Mungos]

dvd

[Scour]

It also depends on the kind of error. Scratches, fingerprints, dirt

[SkaarjMaster]

If the Pioneer isn't such a good reader, then use a regular DVD-ROM drive for reading/ripping.

[Wesociety]

Many Pioneer and NEC DVD burner models have been reported to have less than perfect reading capabilities.

That's why many owners pick up a LiteOn, BenQ or another brand drive to complement their Pioneer/NEC burner.

2 drives from two different brands also covers you on media compatibility, as one brand might support certain media types where the other one does not.

More burners = more fun!

[Wischmop]

Many Pioneer and NEC DVD burner models have been reported to have less than perfect reading capabilities.

I heard it often from NEC-users, Pioneer seems to be a bit better

[Grain]

I've had great luck with my 111L & 112D in reading duffed discs, but at a great speed expense. They've read discs my Liteon, BenQ's and Plextor wouldn't touch.

[Wesociety]

Good to hear that they can read well, even if you need to slow down the read-speed a bit to get a good read on a suspect disc.

[Mungos]

here is an example
skypro gold cd-r 2x-52x 80min ( www.skypromedia.com )

i recorded an audio disc with my pioneer dvr-111 (1.29 firmware version), x8 speed

here is a disc quality test scanned (average read speed x8),
with dvr-111 first picture
and combo drive lite-on sohc-5236v second picture






somebody to explane this results?